


you can't get stabbed in vermont

by Sodium_K



Series: what a wonderful world [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alfred Pennyworth is the Best, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Deaf Jason Todd, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, Jason Todd Gets A Hug, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Not Red Hood, i've had this idea for THREE YEARS and i'm FINALLY WRITING IT, ok and the first volume of no man's land but that doesn't count right now, sure i love decisions made but this.... special place in my heart, the only batman comic author has ever read in their life is death in the family, well he can hear a little bit, y'all don't understand this is my CHILD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28782930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sodium_K/pseuds/Sodium_K
Summary: Jason Todd finds himself in northern Vermont with no memories, soon coming under the care of a woman who seems so very familiar. Once he remembers his past life, he lives with her for the next seven months until he's ready to go back to Wayne Manor.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne & Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Original Character(s), Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Series: what a wonderful world [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2184801
Comments: 18
Kudos: 100





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i've never known mental peace of this capacity  
> every word i write is accompanied by a praise to the heavens  
> every letter is backed by an angelic choir  
> each sentence is a guiding light, gripping me tight and raising me from perdition
> 
> im going to superhell

It was cold. It was so, so very cold. His fingers were throbbing, they hurt so terribly much, but he didn’t dare look down at them, didn’t want to look at the red, dripping mess they definitely were. He could feel the biting wind chilling him to the bone, could feel the snow leaving his face damp, could feel the jolts of pain as his bloody, bruised feet dragged him forwards.

He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know where he had come from, didn’t know how long he had been walking for, didn’t know why he could barely hear traffic as it passed him. Logically, he knew that it was because he was mostly deaf, but he wished he knew why he couldn’t hear the cars. 

The only thing he knew for sure was his name - Jason Todd.

Jason limped onwards, tucking his hands close to his body and hissing when the physical contact shot a jolt of pain through his body. He found his way into a small town, his feet thanking him for the kinder terrain, and he continued into the town, coming across a park. He decided to sit down on a bench, but miscalculated and literally fell off the bench, whacking his head and collapsing, whimpering in pain.

He lay there for a short while, until a pair of boods stopped in front of him. The person attached to the boots knelt down, revealing a woman… whose face was hauntingly familiar. Her curly blonde hair brushed against a thick, curving scar on her left cheek. She reached down and her lips moved, but Jason couldn’t hear what she was saying, and he found himself unable to read her lips. He tried to tell her that he couldn’t hear her, and from her expression, he figured that he got the point across. Her hand, which had paused in midair at Jason’s attempt to speak, continued moving, making contact with him and slowly started patting his hair, softly brushing away from his face, a faraway expression of confusion and longing on her face. It felt… nice. She stopped, taking him by the arms and helping him into a sitting position. She paused and pulled out her phone, typing something and then handing it to him. He blinked a couple of times, trying to focus on the words.

 _My name’s Ella. What’s your name? Do you know what happened to you?_

He reached up with the hand that hurt less, wincing at the splintered mess of his fingers, and tapped out ‘Jason’, finding himself unable to type anything else. Ella read his answer, and typed something more.

_Hi Jason, I’m sorry that I made you type, I didn’t know about the state your hands were in. I’ll try to keep it to yes/no questions. Do you know what happened to you?_

He shook his head no.

 _Can you remember anything?_

No. 

_Would you like to stay at my house? I can help clean you up._

He considered it, aware of every inch of common sense screaming at him that it was a bad idea, and nodded despite himself. Ella hooked her arms under his armpits and slowly lifted him to his feet. Jason whimpered at the pain and sudden dizziness, and Ella led him across the park, supporting most of his weight. They got to her car, and Ella helped him into the passenger seat before getting behind the wheel.

The drive to her household didn’t take very long, but Jason found himself dozing off. He was mostly asleep when they got there, grumbling wordlessly when Ella helped him out of the car. She brought him up to the door, letting him lean completely on her as she unlocked the door. When they got inside, Jason subconsciously relaxed, thanks to the wonderful, wonderful warmth of her home.

She set him down on her couch, typing on her phone that she was going to get her first aid kit. He nodded, eyes fluttering, and she left him, mind racing. Ella rummaged through her bathroom cabinet, trying to explain to herself why the boy looked so familiar, why his eyes haunted her and why his name - _no_. It couldn’t be. Jason Todd had died. Jason was dead and this boy just so happened to look exactly like him, down to the name. It was just a coincidence. She grabbed her kit, hustling back to the ghost on her couch. 

For a ghost, Jason was surprisingly tangible. And for a boy, Jason was quite stoic. He barely reacted as Ella cleaned and bandaged him, only hissing a little when she wiped his fingers with an alcohol wipe. She checked for a concussion at the end - which he thankfully didn’t have - and patted him on the head when she was done. Jason yawned, fatigue setting in, but Ella managed to make him eat some crackers before leading him to the guest room.

She stayed in a chair outside while he was asleep, studying ASL until he woke up. Ella had gotten the hang of fingerspelling and some basic signs during that time, but smacked herself when she realized her oversight - with the state Jason’s hands were in, he wouldn’t be able to communicate with ASL for a good week at least. Once he woke up, she entered the room slowly, sitting next to him on the edge of the bed. 

_Good morning, Jason!_ she typed, and he smiled back in response. _I have a question - do you know if you can understand ASL?_ Jason nodded and then made a ‘so-so’ gesture with his right hand, wincing at the movement. She typed, _I’m learning ASL, so we should be able to communicate more easily when you’ve healed. Do you want pain meds?_ He nodded, and she went to fetch applesauce and some painkillers. On her way back, she made up her mind to ask him the question that had been bugging her all night - after he ate some and took the medicine, at least. She waited for it to start working, and then she asked,

 _Sorry to make you type, but I have to ask. Do you, by any chance, know your last name?_ Jason read the question, thought for a second (or eight), and took the phone, typing slowly. Ella’s heart was in her throat, and she took her phone back with shaking hands, the single word confirming her fear.

 _Todd._

She excused herself for a moment, stepping into her room and pressing a trembling hand to her mouth, staring at the four letters taunting her. How was this possible? Sure, she’d heard of super-heroes coming back to life, but never with total memory loss, and this - this was _Jason_! Not Superman, not Green Lantern, but _Jason Peter Todd_! Why? Why him?

Ella took her hand away from her mouth, wiping at her eyes and making sure she wasn’t crying before going back… to Jason. She re-entered the room, sitting back down on the bed.

 _Jason,_ she typed, _there’s something I need to tell you. From the moment I set eyes on you, you were so familiar. That’s why I asked you what your last name was, and I know now that my suspicions were correct._ Jason, who was reading over her shoulder as she typed, looked up at her quizzically. Ella took a shaky breath before continuing to type. _Now I know who you are, even though you don’t remember me - that makes sense, considering that I lost contact with your mother, Sheila, eighteen years ago. My name is Ella Haywood. I’m your aunt._


	2. Chapter 2

Jason looked up at Ella for a long while after her confession, finally moving - to look back at the text on her phone screen in disbelief. Ella sat and waited patiently for him to process this, and he eventually took her phone, typing his own message (hindered by the bandages on his hands).

 _You’re serious._ It wasn’t a question. Ella nodded, typing her own message.

 _100%. The reason you wouldn’t remember me anyways is because you were an infant when I had a falling-out with your mother._ She waited for Jason to come to terms with this (mostly. It had already been twelve minutes) before going to find a better method of communication. It took a lot of rummaging, but she eventually found two dry-erase boards and markers, bringing them back to Jason. _Here we go! These should make it easier for us to communicate._ They wrote to each other until Jason got hungry, so Ella went and made some sandwiches. She brought them back, and after they ate, she regaled him with tales from her childhood until he got tired, at which point Ella excused herself to do chores. 

Jason settled back down, ready to go back to sleep, but something Ella had said didn’t add up. Firstly he was pretty sure he was still like… fifteen, sixteen at the most. However, Ella knew who he was, she said she’d met him when he was an infant, but she’d _also_ said that she’d lost contact with his mother - her _twin sister_ \- eighteen years ago. It was quite literally not adding up. However, before he could think about it anymore, he slipped off to sleep.

_He couldn’t see anything. He felt a rumble, and suddenly he was burning, everything around him unimaginably hot. His nerves were flooded with horrific pain, and he could see again, looking at a crumbling building, decorated with flames and smoke. He looked down at his arms, seeing them broken, bruised, and burnt._

_He was smaller now, in much less pain. He could see his surroundings, he was in a small, dark, dirty room. There was trash and clothing littering the floor. The smell of booze and cigarettes hung in the room like a blanket, choking him. There were footsteps and shouting outside the door, and a sob caught in his throat._

_He was in a warehouse, lying immobile, staring up at a shadowy figure. The figure had a long weapon of sorts, and was using it to beat him. It was cackling horrible, and with every swing, the figure distorted further, becoming less and less human. Pain lanced through his body, and he whimpered as his bones fractured._

_He was leaning up against the wall of the warehouse, his body as cold as the concrete under his palms. He’d given up completely. Looking over to his left, he saw a clock, counting down from 12. He sighed despondently, and out of his throat came a misty blue light, dancing around him. Wherever it touched, the pain ebbed away. The clock reached 3 and began to beep in warning, the blue mist quickly turning to a sickly yellow. The beeping continued after the clock hit 0, and someone was shaking him, a giant black form, body language panicked. Suddenly, the mist set back into him, and terror shot through him completely._

When Jason woke up, he sat up and instinctively tried to run. (He was screaming.) Something stopped him, and he looked over to see Ella, arms wrapped around his midsection, face pale. His heart was beating rapidly, his mind racing, and he remembered.

_Bruce, Batman, Dick, Nightwing, Alfred, Robin, the birth certificate, Ethiopia, Sheila, the Joker, tied up, the crowbar, ow please no stop please, what hurts more? Batman please, someone anyone, I’m sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so so so sorry_

_dad please I'm scared_

Ella slowly let go of Jason, reaching for her whiteboard, but he dove at her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug and burying his face in her shoulder. Ella stopped, holding him with her left arm and petting his hair with her right hand. Jason started to shake as the original flood of his memories subsided, and, not knowing what else to do, started crying. Ella began to rock him back and forth, waiting for him to finish crying. He found the motion soothing, and stopped crying shortly. Jason straightened back up, wiped at his eyes, and picked up his whiteboard. His handwriting was terrible. 

_I remember everything._ Ella looked shocked for a second, and then asked him what he remembered and why it made him wake up the way that he did. _The beeping… I died in an explosion._ He shuddered after he finished writing, but Ella didn’t look surprised that he’d figured out that he had died. Rather, she looked guilty. 

_I’m sorry. The beeping was my alarm; I’m a very heavy sleeper, and I didn’t expect you to be able to hear it. Also, the reason I set an alarm for such a strange hour is because I work at the hospital._ Jason read it, and nodded. He then wrote the question he’d been itching to ask. 

_So you knew that I died?_ A dark look passed over Ella’s face, and she looked down. 

_Yes. I knew. I didn’t tell you, because you didn’t remember anything, and I didn’t know how it would affect you. Her face crumbled and tears welled up in her eyes. I was in Peru when it happened. When I got back to Vermont, my housemate at the time told me. I was three months late to your funeral._ Jason looked up at her, and she sniffed. _I should call in sick._ Jason was going to tell her she didn’t have to, but a different part of him that didn’t want her to leave kept him from stopping her. She pulled her phone out, calling someone. She finished her call and put her phone away, smiling and ruffling Jason’s hair. 

Jason’s stomach rumbled, and Ella laughed fondly, helping Jason out of his bed and helping him into her living room, where he sat down on the couch. She wrapped him up in a blanket and went to make him some tea.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason took the tea. He slowly drank it as it cooled, Ella sitting next to him and absentmindedly playing with his hair. (He was surprised at how quickly he had trusted her, but he so desperately needed something nice in his life that he allowed it.) Neither of them did anything until Jason finished; Ella took the empty mug when he was done and washed it. She sat back down next to him, rearranged the blankets on Jason, and he yawned, eyelids fluttering. She smiled fondly at him, and he subconsciously leaned into her. Ella opened her arms and brought him into a hug, gently running her fingers through his hair. The soft, repetitive motion slowly pulled him into a peaceful, dreamless slumber. 

He woke up alone, lying on the couch with a pillow under his head, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ella's silhouette in the room he guessed was the kitchen (he hadn't had the chance to look through her house). Jason slid off the couch and into a standing position, shivering at the cooler temperature and grabbing the blanket, bundling himself up and moving into the kitchen.

Ella was making breakfast, dancing along to a song Jason couldn’t quite hear. A floorboard squeaked under his foot, and she turned around, smiling widely when she saw him. She gestured for him to take a seat at the table, and he did, stumbling blearily for the chair. He sat down heavily, and she went back to cooking, serving breakfast not very long after, and he smiled gratefully. She patted his hair before sitting across the table from him and eating her own breakfast.

He finished eating, and excused himself to grab his whiteboard, grabbing Ella’s as well. Jason sat back down, and after Ella finished her breakfast (she ate considerably slower than the teenager who literally hadn’t eaten more than 1 meal in almost four years), he wrote,

_How much have things changed with the Wayne family?_ She looked like she’d been expecting this question, wiping her hands off before picking up her marker.

_Where do you want me to start?_ Her second sentence shocked Jason a considerable amount, _The Waynes, or Batman?_ (Jason hadn’t told her about Bruce being Batman… right?) She smiled at Jason’s stunned expression, _Come on, it’s easy to figure out. Especially if you were in the room when one of the Robins was born._ Jason shook his head in minor disbelief.

_Well, okay then._ He paused, thinking. _Start with the Waynes?_

_Well,_ Ella wrote, _I suppose I should start by saying that Bruce and Dick ended their fight pretty quickly after you passed. And almost immediately after,_ she paused, and Jason egged her on with a raised eyebrow, _Bruce adopted Tim and made him Robin._ A pit opened in Jason’s stomach; his blood ran cold.

_Another Robin?_ he asked, and Ella grimaced after doing the mental math.

_There’s more to the story, Jason._ But it was too late; the words had done their damage. Jason dropped his marker as one thought rose to the forefront of his mind. Ella made her way around the table.

**I’ve been replaced.**

“Jason,” Ella signed, her hand movements shaky and unsure (Jason wasn’t sure when he’d learned ASL), “It’s not what you think. He didn’t-” Jason had stopped paying attention, his thoughts too poisonous to ignore.

**He replaced me like a broken tool. I meant nothing to him, just a rank to fill. Bruce didn’t love me like he said, all he did was -** Ella had grabbed his head and forced him to look at her.

“Jason, pay attention to me. Batman, _Bruce_ , nearly went insane, almost died himself, after your death. The media easily picked up that both of his identities were doing horrifically poorly. It was easy to see. Bruce wasn’t eating, wasn’t sleeping, and crime rates were steadily climbing because of how poorly Batman was doing. Then Tim came along, Bruce and Batman have been doing better, but anyone can see that he is still incredibly fucked up over your death. You’re his _son_ , Jason! Of course he loves you! I can tell you, from personal experience, there’s no way in hell anyone in the world could possibly come close to replacing a child!” At the end of her miniature rant (half stuttery sign language, half lip reading), her eyes were shining with unshed tears. Jason wasn’t sure how she’d been able to read his thoughts, but it seemed to have struck a chord. Jason, not quite believing her, started crying, and Ella pulled him into a hug. He was beginning to think that her hugs legitimately had healing properties. Once the two of them had finished crying, Jason asked,

_How’d you learn to sign so quickly?_ She smiled secretively.

“I’m a good student.” Well. The sign for student was wrong, but Jason wasn’t sure what it actually was, so he just let it slide. “Now where were we? Bruce adopted Tim, oh! And a girl named Cassandra - she’s quite sweet, if nearly silent. She picked up as Black Bat after Batgirl retired.”

Wait. Jason didn’t like that last sentence. _What happened to Batgirl? She retired?_ Ella frowned sadly, her hands trembling slightly. 

“Joker shot her. Paralyzed her - as Barbara Gordon.” Jason’s blood boiled.

_What?_ She nodded, grim.

“Batgirl, the redheaded one, disappeared the night the Joker shot Barbara Gordon. Don’t know why, but the wound was non-fatal. Then Bruce adopts Cassandra Cain, a small, very quiet girl, and soon after, Black Bat shows up for the first time; a small, very quiet girl, and if you pay enough attention, the way they move is the exact same.” Had Jason not been so hung up on Barbara Gordon’s injury, he would’ve joked that she was incredibly knowledgeable on Gotham for someone who worked in Vermont. He had stilled completely in shock, and Ella reached over and rubbed his shoulder until he snapped out of it. 

_So Barbara’s alright?_ Ella nodded. 

“Yeah. She’s doing okay now. Don’t know much, though.” He nodded slowly, and then shook his head a little, trying to dispel the thoughts that were growing in his mind. 

_Well. That’s good._ They looked at each other for a second, waiting for the other to do something. After the pause, Ella signed,

“Do you have any other questions?” Jason shook his head, “Do you want to go back to the Waynes?”

_Not in the foreseeable future._ Ella nodded understandingly. 

“Alright. That means we’ll need to go shopping soon, you need clothes, shoes, and many other things…” She chuckled at Jason’s confused expression, and continued signing, “What? If you’re going to be living here, or even visiting, you’ll need to have things of your own.” Jason, taken aback, didn’t know what to do. Ella just picked up their plates from breakfast and started to clean them, acting like her willingness to let Jason - her nephew - live with her was completely normal. It was, but just not to Jason, who was somehow still convinced that nobody wanted him around. 

Once the kitchen had been cleared up from breakfast (Jason helped out) and the two of them had showered, she drove them to the mall. She told him that even though they’re out to get clothes, she’d get him anything he asked her for.

( _This world has been far too cruel to Jason,_ Ella thought, _and I intend to spoil the shit out of him to make up for it._ )


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick snapshots of Jason's life with Ella over the next seven months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jason shows up in vermont in early january. 
> 
> Possible trigger warning for June: mentions of past child abuse/assault (it's not anyone we know), and violence&death. all mentioned, all in the past.

**_janvier_**  
Jason wasn’t sure what to do with that information - she’d buy him _anything_ he wanted? She couldn’t be serious. She’s not serious, right? She had to be joking. This had to be a joke. 

It was not a joke. He found this out on two separate instances, the first time when he pointed out a scarf he liked, and the second time when he showed Ella a book that had caught his attention. Both times, Ella had bought him the things he wanted without batting an eye. Both times, Jason had stared at the items she had bought in disbelief. When she asked him what kind of clothes he liked, Jason bluescreened, unsure of his answer to that question.

Undeterred, Ella just picked out many different kinds of clothes and sent him to the changing rooms, instructing him to tell her what he liked the most. He did, and she helped him find similar clothes that he also liked. (His favorite was a very large, borderline-ridiculously-fluffy dark red hoodie, that he promptly put on and absolutely refused to take off.)

When his aunt noticed that Jason was getting overwhelmed (by both the amount of people around him and the noise that he could only _kind of_ hear and definitely not understand), she took his hand and gently led him to a bench in a less populated part of the mall. Sitting him down, she knelt in front of him, cupping her hands around his face and softly rubbing her thumbs against his temples until he calmed down. Once the tension in his jaw eased, she took her hands down. 

“Are you doing better now?” Jason nodded quickly, but didn’t move. He closed his eyes, and Ella took his hand as she waited for him. Once he was actually better, he used his bandaged hands to sign to the best of his ability,

“I’m good now. Thanks.” Ella lifted him up, patting his back. She picked up their bags, and asked him what he wanted to do, continue shopping or go home. Jason wanted to go home. (He fell asleep on the drive back - the mall was on the complete opposite side of town - so Ella drove around town in circles, not wanting to wake him up just yet.) She eventually decided to go home and wake him up. He jumped a little when she lightly tapped his shoulders to wake him up, and he rubbed his eyes, looking around in confusion. Ella smiled fondly. 

“You fell asleep on the drive home, and we’re back now.” Jason nodded, going for the door handle and failing miserably. Ella patted his back jovially. “Take your time.” She signed, good-naturedly poking fun at him. He got out of the car, and they split the bags between them. 

They got to work putting everything away. Once she had finished putting the sheets on the bed, Ella helped Jason take the tags off of his clothes and put them away neatly (something he wasn’t very good at due to the state of his hands). By the time they had finished, the sun had begun to set (they had spent a _while_ at the mall), and thick, fluffy snowflakes had begun to fall from the sky. Jason watched the snowfall delightedly, and Ella went to the kitchen, returning with two mugs of hot tea. They sat on his bed, drinking their tea and watching the snow. Jason leaned into Ella, who wrapped her arm around him, tangling her fingers in his hair and playing with it absentmindedly. Jason hummed contentedly, putting his mug on the nightstand and wrapping his arms around Ella. A grin grew on her face, and after some consideration, she gently pressed her lips to her forehead. As his eyes slowly shut, Jason smiled. Ella felt herself nodding off as well, so she set her mug next to Jason’s and slowly leaned back until they were lying down, aunt and nephew falling asleep as the snow muted the world around them.

 ** _fevrier_**  
Jason’s hands had healed quite well, which made communication a whole lot easier, along with literally everything else. He was able to help Ella with plenty of around-the-house work, and a hobby they had picked up was baking together. They greatly enjoyed it; it was quite a relaxing activity.

Even though his hands were improving, his mental state wasn’t. He had nightmares almost nightly, and it didn’t take much to send him into a flashback or a panic attack. Tonight was no different; his nightmare had him thrashing around in his bed, whimpering wordless pleas to the creature tormenting him. In his flailing, his arm caught the lamp on his nightstand and sent it flying, soon falling off his bed and beginning to wake up.

The _crash_ that the incident made woke Ella up in record time, and she ran into Jason’s room, seeing him crumpled on the floor. As she reached him, Jason looked up at her. Still half asleep, Jason did not see his aunt, instead looking up at his mother, the person that sold him out to the Joker. He cried out and screwed his eyes shut, preparing himself for the blows that would follow.

The blows never came. Jason cracked an eye open to see Ella’s shoulder. Fully awake now, Jason realized what had happened, remembered the time he had spent with Ella, and started sobbing. Ella held him, rocking him and rubbing his back as he cried. Jason reached out blindly in the midst of his tears, and she took it, squeezing it reassuringly. Jason began to gasp for air in between sobs, trying (and failing) to even out his breathing, and Ella planted a kiss on the top of his head. He finally calmed down enough to turn and face her, eyes red and and puffy, face wet, and Ella wiped his face dry with the sleeve of her bathrobe. Jason closed his eyes and sighed softly, and Ella lightly kissed his forehead, letting go of him. 

“Do you want to go back to bed?” she asked, and Jason shook his head, so she helped him to his feet and into the kitchen - they often made cookies after his nightmares. Jason hmmmed softly - a noise he made when he was happy - as he separated the batter into individual cookies. Ella looked over at him and smiled. Once the cookies were in the oven, they worked together to clean, and then Jason read as Ella made hot chocolate. She set the mug down in front of him and he thanked her, too engrossed in his book to have a conversation. When the cookies were done, Ella took them out and placed a plate in front of him, ruffling his hair.

He read for a while, stopping when the sun began to come up. On the other side of the room, Ella was sitting on a couch, her chin tucked down into her chest, and she was napping. It was Jason’s turn to smile fondly, and then he got up and showered. 

He came back to see that Ella was still napping, so he left her asleep while he started to make breakfast. She began to stir a little while later, and she joined him in the kitchen. They ate together and then bundled up, heading outside - it had been snowing nonstop for a day - for a walk. A conclave of cardinals distracted Ella, and Jason took that moment to roll a snowball and throw it at her. It smacked her in the back of her head, and she turned around with a fake-scandalized expression. Slowly, she knelt down, packing snow together (slowly), and then suddenly flinging the snowball at him as quickly as she could. Jason dodged as best as possible, but it still clipped his shoulder. He laughed, and they had a full-on snowball fight. 

Once they finished the fight (both of them insisting they had won), they walked farther into town, and Ella bought them coffee.

 _ **mars**_  
Ella’s wardrobe was falling apart. Literally. When Jason asked her about it, she just shrugged and said that she’d had the wardrobe since before she had even gotten married. Evidently, she hadn't meant to tell him about her husband, because she didn't answer when he asked her about it. He didn't push, so once they got the remains of the wardrobe to the dump, they headed for an IKEA. Jason, dreading this, tried to stop her by telling her that they’d just get lost, to which she responded that ‘that’s the fun part!’

They got lost in less than thirty minutes. In stark contrast to Ella’s bright, unrelenting optimism, Jason was dragging his feet and beginning to despair.

“We’re stuck here, Auntie! We’re gonna die in this fucking IKEA, and nobody’s gonna find our bodies!” He signed, exaggerating his hand motions like the theater kid he was. She waved his complaint off merrily.

“C’mon, drama queen! We’re not going to die! People that get lost in IKEAs don’t die, they just assimilate!” Jason rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, because serving meatballs and selling DJUNGELSKOGs for the rest of eternity is preferable.” Ella playfully _bapped_ him on the back of his head, and he rubbed the contact point jokingly. 

They continued on, deeper into the sprawling labyrinth of the hellish furniture store, finally finding the section with the wardrobes. Jason punched the air in victory, and thankfully it didn’t take her very long to find one that she liked, and they tried to escape. Jason breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped into the glorious sunlight of the outside. Ella looked over her shoulder at Jason, smiling evilly.

“What are you celebrating for? We still have to assemble it.”

 ** _avril_**  
Ella and Jason had come to the same conclusion at the same time - April was not a good month for Jason. His nightmares had been increasing in frequency and severity all month long, and today - April 26th - he’d freaked out when anyone touched him, he’d had a breakdown when he’d dropped and broken a plate (which he dropped because he was _already_ freaking out), and he’d thrown up everything he’d tried to eat. He was getting worse as the 27th drew closer, and he’d headed to bed early that night, pale and shaky. Ella reminded him to come get her if he needed her.

_He whined as he felt something crack in his torso. It felt like the thousandth time he’d been through this - this cycle of torture was on a loop, beginning as soon as it ended. This dream was also different from previous dreams; he wasn’t in a warehouse, tied up on the floor. He was in a basement of sorts, tied to a chair. Joker wasn’t the only face torturing him; it was a collection of costumes, all ones he’d fought before, distorted and eager for revenge. Zsasz, Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, you name it. Nothing was ticking this time, either._

He suffered through the loop a good seven more times before waking up with a jolt and a strangled gasp. Placing a hand over his pounding heart (and his autopsy scar), he took deep breaths until he calmed down, and then Jason flipped onto his side, pulling the covers back over himself and trying to go to sleep. It didn’t work - he was too shaken by his dreams, and every time he closed his eyes, he saw the Joker’s grin. He shuddered.

The clock read 2:47 am.

After twelve minutes of lying still and seven minutes of internally debating if he should wake Ella, he sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and shivering as he stood. He wrapped his blanket around his torso, and left the room, raising his eyebrow when he saw a light coming from the living room. 

Ella, having taken note of Jason’s shaking and poor mental state, had made up her mind and decided to stay awake all night, just in case. Now, at roughly 3 am, she was glad she did.

She had been reading and drinking coffee when a whisper from the hall caught her attention. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Jason, and she sucked in a breath when she saw how rough he looked. He was white as a sheet, the bags under his eyes were dark and prominent, his eyes were dull and puffy from crying, and it looked like he had been scratching at a spot of his cheek, nearly breaking the skin.

Immediately, she placed her coffee and book on the side table, moving to the end of the couch and crossing her legs, placing a pillow on her lap and patting the couch in invitation. Jason’s lip trembled, and he slowly sat on the couch, lying on his side and settling his head on the pillow. Ella reached over and tucked the blanket around him, then running her fingers through his hair and gently placing a kiss on his temple. She kept petting his hair, listening and waiting as his shaky breathing and trembling evened out as he slipped off to sleep.

Roughly two hours later, Jason started twitching and crying in his sleep. She quickly wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. Thankfully, due to the friendly contact, he calmed back down to his peaceful state. Ella gently slipped out of the partial hug, rearranging the blanket that he’d kicked off. 

She had long since finished her coffee when Jason woke up with a start. It was 9:30. He looked around in confusion, making eye contact with Ella and relaxing at her gentle grin. She helped him sit up, and wiped a stray tear out of his eye.

“Today’s the day - how are you feeling?” She asked, and Jason frowned, looking down at his lap. His lack of answer spoke for him, and Ella wrapped the blanket around him once more, kissing his temple and getting up to make him some tea. The rest of the day was difficult for him, but in the days that followed, Ella watched as his mental state slowly improved. By the time May rolled around, Jason was back to how he’d been in March. 

**_mai_**  
Ella noted, relieved, that Jason was improving at an accelerated rate, now that April was past them. In stark contrast to how he was in January, he was now able to go into public on his own without panicking, and he left the house quite often. This was good news - he was healing, bit by bit. No matter where he went, when he left, or how long he was out, he always came back in time for dinner. 

The only time he was ever late for dinner, he had good reason. 

It was 8 pm, the sun was just beginning to set, and Jason was walking down the street, making his way back home. He saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He paid it no attention at first, but when he walked past the alley it had been in, it moved towards him. As it stepped into the sunlight, Jason gasped softly - it was a _kitten_. It was tiny and dirty - completely black. It trembled over to Jason, pawing at his ankles, but when he knelt down, he spooked it, and it ran back into the shadows. 

The cat was painfully skinny, and Jason felt a need to take it home with him, so he stayed there until the kitten slowly made its way over to him once more. The sun had mostly set at that point, so he scooped up the kitten quickly, holding it close to his chest, and headed home. The kitten wiggled around a little, but it was too small for its movements to have an effect. He rang the doorbell when he got home, and Ella answered quickly, sagging in relief when she saw Jason.

“Oh, there you are! You were late, and I’ve been wondering where you were and getting worried - what is that?” Her eyes landed on the kitten in Jason’s arms, and he smiled awkwardly at her. He shifted the cat around until his hands were free, and signed,

“Funny story, actually. Can we keep him?” Of course Ella didn’t say no. She did, however, tell him to clean the cat before anything else. Jason took the cat into his bathroom, filling the sink with warm water and slowly putting the cat in. It mewled pathetically, but didn’t struggle all too much. As the water washed away the dirt and grime, Jason found that it was not a fully black cat - it was a tuxedo, with white paws, a white chest, and a little white moustache. There was a tiny notch in its left ear, possibly from a fight with another cat. When the bath was done, Jason dried the kitten off with a hand towel, and the cat nuzzled up to him, purring gratefully. Still holding the cat, he went into the kitchen and began looking for something to feed it. Ella passed him a bowl of milk, which the kitten began hungrily lapping up.

“What are you going to name him?” Ella asked, and Jason thought for a bit.

“Zippy.”

 ** _juin_**  
June was house cleaning month, Ella said. Jason was sure that spring was when you were supposed to clean, but Ella responded by telling him that it was still spring. Jason didn’t believe her. Despite what he did or didn’t believe, he did help her clean. They started with the first floor, and split the rooms between themselves; Jason took his room, the living room, and the laundry room, and Ella took her room, the kitchen, and the bathrooms. They got it all done before lunch, and Ella smiled gratefully at him once they stopped for lunch.

“You know, in previous years, this would take me like three times longer than now. Your help with this is priceless, thank you so much for helping out.” She signed as Jason poured them both glasses of tea. They ate lunch slowly, and when they were done, Jason realized that he wasn’t sure what they were going to clean now - he knew that Ella planned to continue cleaning, but she only lived in a one-story house. He asked her what she was planning, and she signed, “I wanted to go through the attic. It’s not so much cleaning as it is just… going through some of the things up there.” Jason gave her a confused look, and she waved for him to follow her. 

The ladder to the attic was in the laundry room, and she pulled it down, going up first. The inside of the attic was dusty; there was some cleaning to be done, but Ella didn’t seem to be focused on it. Instead, she walked through the attic (Jason was bent down a significant amount), sitting on the floor in front of a large tupperware box. She patted the floor next to her, and Jason joined her. After sweeping the dust off of the lid, she opened the box, a faraway, bittersweet smile on her face. Jason was quite confused. 

The first thing Ella pulled out was a photo album, and the pieces began to come together in Jason’s mind as she opened it. The first photos were in greyscale, and the very first one was of a woman, smiling at the camera, holding two babies in her arms. The date was smudged, but it was in the early 1970s. 

“That’s my mother,” Ella signed, “holding Sheila and I, right after we came home from the hospital. I’m the one on the left.” Jason looked closer, and he could see the resemblance in the adult woman. “My mother was Amelia Mouch, and she married my father, Hugh Haywood, in 1964.” She pointed to the next photo, of Robert, Amelia, Sheila, and Ella; Sheila and Ella looked to be five in the photo, and it had been taken around Christmastime. “I don’t know where all of the photos from in between went, but this was our fifth Christmas. The two of us got a kitten as our gift.” She looked up at Jason and smiled widely, “Did you know that this is the same house that I grew up in? And the same house my father grew up in? And the same house _his_ father grew up in?” Jason expressed his surprise, and Ella kept going with the album tour. 

The photos covered most things, from birthdays to family reunions and beach vacations. The first photo in color was on Ella’s fifteenth birthday. She and Sheila were smiling at the camera, but some part of Sheila’s expression was off-putting, and in the photo, Ella’s eyes looked wet and her smile looked strained. She chuckled and explained,

“This photo was taken about… forty-five minutes, I think, after Sheila told me that she had… well, she had used her abilities as my identical twin to get with my boyfriend at the time.” She paused, amused by Jason’s stunned expression, and then continued, “She’d been doing cruel things like that since we were ten, and despite our parents’ attempts to stop or punish her, she continued to do things like that until the day we lost contact. I don’t think she could stand to see me happy.” They went through more of the photo album, with Ella pointing out small details and telling stories from her childhood, until her cheerful demeanor changed at the very end of the book, where a small black folder was tucked in. 

“What’s this?” Jason signed, and Ella sighed, pulling it out and taking out five small photos. She handed them off to him, not even bothering to look at them. The photos were dated for Sheila and Ella to be about twenty-six. They were dressed in all black, obviously at a funeral, and he frowned, looking from the photos to Ella and back again.

“That’s my parents’ funeral” Jason nodded, putting the photos back in the folder and putting the folder away. Ella stood up, “Well, I’m going to go make dinner. You can join me, but there’s also more things to go through in the box. There are things in there I don’t want to tell you about, but I don’t mind you finding out and putting it all together on your own.” She headed for the ladder, but Jason stayed behind. Something was itching at the back of his mind, and he pulled out the funeral photos again. Something stood out to him that he hadn’t noticed before - Sheila was _obviously_ pregnant. She wasn’t very far along, but it was quite visible. 

Moving on to the next album, he saw Ella and an unknown man who looked very happy to be there. On the back of the photo was written _Ella and Raymond_ , but no other information. Raymond showed up many more times, and evidence quickly showed that Raymond was Ella’s husband. He flipped through many pages of them appearing to be a happy couple (Ella’s cheek remained unscarred), but turning one page sent him reeling; smiling up from the page was a photo of _Sheila Haywood and Willis Todd_. Of course there would be photos of them; why wouldn’t there be? They were less of a happy couple than Ella and Raymond, but happy nonetheless. 

He thumbed through a few more months, and then let out a sharp laugh of surprise at the next photo in the album. Sheila was holding an infant, a _baby Jason Todd_. The photo had been taken at the hospital, Sheila looked exhausted but glowing with happiness, and _he_ was fast asleep, swaddled tightly in a blanket. The next many photos were all of baby Jason, sometimes accompanied by the aforementioned four adults. The last section of photos were of Jason, on his own instead of with the adults. The date marked it as his first birthday, and there looked to be many photos of Jason, many photos of Jason with his parents, and only three photos of Jason and Ella. 

In the very last photo, Jason was wearing a onesie with blue dinosaurs on it, and Ella was holding him up, smiling at the camera. Her eyes were squinted, almost closed from how big her smile was, and he could feel the joy exuding from the photo. However, instead of looking at the camera, one-year-old Jason was chewing on his fist, wide-eyed and staring intently at Ella, absolutely transfixed.

A grin crept onto current Jason’s face, and he set it aside, looking through the rest of the box. Surprisingly, there were no more photos of Sheila, Willis, Jason, or Raymond in the box. He dug through, finding some things that shocked him; there were some letters between Sheila and Ella that he didn’t read, there was a death certificate for Raymond, and some official documents. Scanning those documents, Jason was left wondering if he should believe the documents - evidently, Ella had gone to _jail_ for _four years_ after _killing Raymond_. Shaken, he put everything back where it belonged, keeping the photo of Ella and himself. He made his way back to the kitchen, where Ella turned to greet him. He signed,

"I found this photo, and… can I keep it?" Ella looked over at it, smiling and reaching up to ruffle Jason's hair.

"Of course, Jay. Good choice of photo, too." There was a slight pause, and then Ella signed, "So you found the papers, then?" Jason nodded. "I didn't want to talk about this, but… towards the end, after Sheila had left, I went to med school. Raymond would stay at home and babysit for our neighbors, and one day I came home early to find out that Raymond… he'd tried to… _put his hands on_ the kid. He didn't realize that I knew, and after I took the kid back to her house, I came back home and took my handgun out of the safe. At that point, Raymond knew what was going to happen, so he grabbed a kitchen knife and went after me. He caught me on the cheek,” she pointed to her scar, “but before he could do anything else, I shot him _dead_." She waited for Jason to respond, but he did nothing, so she continued. “My trial was a little complicated. I had planned to kill Raymond in the fifteen minutes before, but he was also the first one to attack, so it was also self-defense. In the end, I was given a sentence of four years.” Jason nodded and sat down.

“Did… what did you do once you got out?” He asked, and she made a face. 

“I went back to medical school. I became a nurse in 2010, and did some work in South America, and I returned in 2014 to news of your death. Nothing’s happened to me since.” She was looking at Jason like she expected him to announce his wish to move out, but all Jason signed was,

“What’s for dinner, then?” 

_**juillet**_  
Ella had been out getting food while Jason was at home with Zippy. It was the fourth of July, so the store was packed with people making last-minutes preparations for their barbeques and get-togethers. Ella bought what she needed, and put the groceries in her car before checking her phone. Jason had texted her, asking if she could go to the mall and get him a new pair of shoes. Since she knew the size and didn’t have any perishable groceries, she headed out to the mall. Checking the time, she realized that she wouldn’t be home until after dark. She let Jason know once she parked and headed inside. 

One of the first people she saw in the mall was her coworker, who had been out for the past two months on maternity leave. Despite her usual aversion to spending ages “catching up” with people, she found herself spending twenty minutes talking to her. They parted ways when Ella decided that she needed to pick up the pace and get the shoes so that she could get home soon and start dinner. Finding the shoes took some searching, but she did finally find the right size. She got out to her car, noting that the sun was setting. As she drove home, the fireworks started. She thought nothing of it. 

She got home, and all of the lights in the house were out. As she took the groceries in, she hummed a small tune, absentmindedly noting that the house was empty. It took her a second, but she realized that Jason was nowhere to be found. Ella walked from the kitchen into the living room - Jason wasn’t there, but Zippy came trotting over to her, meowing in distress. She bent down to pet him, asking him where Jason went. Fireworks illuminated the living room as she asked, the _pops_ and _booms_ making a pit form in the bottom of her stomach. _Of course_. 

She hurried into his room, going to where he’d hid before - nestled deep in the closet. As Ella stepped closer to her, another thing rose to her mind, something that she had taken note of but not really thought about; Jason was growing and he was growing _fast_. Back in January, when he’d first started living with her, he was a _tiny_ sixteen year old, and could fit into the back of the closet no problem. However, over the seven months, he’d been growing rapidly to match the near four years he’d missed, his body trying to right itself. Now, he was physically much larger, and his attempt to hide in the closet was thwarted by the fact that he didn’t fit any more. His back was pressed against the wall, but his legs were sticking very far out of the closet. He was also bent half-over, but that was also partially because he had tucked his head down to rest on his knees, and had his hands covering his head. 

Ella knelt down in front of him, and reached out to lightly tap his shin. He jerked his head up to look at her; his face was tearstained and he was shuddering horribly. Jason reached out shakily, and Ella took his hand. He flinched as another firework went off, and scrambled towards her, settling into her arms. Ella patted his back gently, humming soothingly. Jason’s other hand grabbed her shirt, and he curled closer into her chest, crying harder as more fireworks went off. There was nothing she could do except wait.

The fireworks continued all night, but around midnight, when the fireworks were at their loudest and most frequent, Ella went to dig through her things, finally finding a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. She put them over Jason’s head, which cut off the rest of what he could hear (the fireworks were very loud), but the small flashes of light and the slight scent of gunpowder was enough to keep him awake. 

In the morning, Jason finally drifted off to sleep as the fireworks stopped. Ella left him to make food, and she went in and out of his room as he slept, checking up on him hourly. He slept until five in the evening, and when he woke up, Ella was just stepping out of his room. He called out to her, and she swung around, smiling when she saw him.

“How are you doing?” She signed, and Jason gave her a limp, half-hearted shrug. He was honestly _not good_. She sat on the bed, taking his hand and patting it. Jason pushed himself into a sitting position, and Zippy got up from where he’d been napping, turning around a couple of times and going back to sleep. Ella waited as Jason stared into the middle distance for a second, before signing, “Are you hungry?” Jason shook his head, making up his mind about something he’d been thinking about for a while now.

“I think…” He paused, hands shaky, “I think I want to go back to Gotham.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeehaw you know what's coming next chapter!!!!
> 
> The cat "Zippy" is actually my old cat! I miss him so much.... :..(


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking through this to the end! I'm so happy I wrote this story, and I'm honestly kind of sad that it's over :,(

They’d waited a couple days to actually go down to Gotham, but now they were in Ella’s car, and she was driving. The windows were open, ruffling Jason’s hair and tugging Ella’s in all different directions. She’d been driving for three hours already, and the afternoon sun was bathing them in bright golden light. Jason watched her as she sang along to a song, the lyrics and tune unknown to him, but he could tell from her body language what the song was about. They stopped at a gas station with four hours left on their drive, and Ella sent Jason in to grab some snacks while she stretched. 

He meandered through the cluttered aisles of the gas station, picking out some food and making his way up to the cashier. He paid and left, getting back in the car and waiting for Ella to finish stretching. Once she was done and had sufficiently judged Jason for his snack choices, she started the car, and they were on their way to Gotham yet again. They got to Gotham well after sundown, and Jason knew that Batman and whoever else would be patrolling. However, Ella noticed that he was having a minor breakdown and put her foot down. They would not be seeking out Batman tonight, she told him, and they would be renting a hotel room and going out in the morning. Jason dragged his feet a little bit, but he didn’t protest. 

Ella rented a room with two single beds, and they drifted off to sleep rather quickly. However, Ella woke up five hours later feeling like she was being crushed. A quick inspection revealed her predicament; Jason had crawled into her bed sometime while she was asleep, and now he was lying on top of her. She sighed, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around him, slipping back into unconsciousness. 

They woke up four hours later at 8 am, with dim Gotham sun shining through their windows. Jason grumbled a little, but Ella pushed him up and out of the bed. He stumbled around, trying to get ready, and Ella (who was a morning person) laughed at him. They walked to a cafe just down the street once Jason had gotten ready, but the cashier didn’t know sign language, so Ella ended up having to order for Jason. After they finished their breakfast (which took a little while as they were eating at a somewhat lazy pace), they went back out into Gotham to continue their search for the Waynes (Jason knew that it would be easiest to go up to Wayne Manor, but he didn’t want to do that unless he had to). 

The two of them wandered up and down the streets of Gotham for a solid two hours, trying desperately to find any of the Waynes - Bruce, Dick, Tim, Alfred, or even Cass, even though Jason had never met her - but came up empty-handed. It was at 11 am when they finally found someone - Ella wanted to grab some food from a grocery store, and while they were in there, Jason saw… _Alfred_. He grabbed Ella’s shoulder, both to get her attention and also to stabilize himself. Ella smiled encouragingly at him, and Jason signed,

“Wait - what if I just… stand next to him and wait for him to notice me?” The smile dropped off of Ella’s face.

“Are you trying to give the poor man a heart attack?” She asked, and Jason shrugged, mentally building himself up, and moving to stand right next to Alfred, scrutinizing the cheeses as he waited. 

It did not take Alfred much time at all to notice him, but it did take him a very long time to break out of his stunned state. Eyes wide, face pale, Alfred slowly reached out to place a hand on Jason’s shoulder (the last time they had seen each other, Jason was tiny, barely coming up to Alfred’s elbow, but now Jason stood above Alfred) and softly gasped when he was convinced Jason was real. His mouth moved, saying something that Jason read as _‘Master Jason?’_. Jason smiled in relief, his posture sagging, and started to sign something. However, he was cut off by Alfred pulling him into a tight hug. Jason made a strange noise in surprise, gladly accepting and returning the hug, noting the way Alfred was shaking. After a little while, Alfred let go of Jason, taking a step back and staring up at his face. Jason started signing again. 

“Hey, Alfred,” He waited to see if Alfred understood, and continued when he did, “It’s… it’s been a while,” his hands were shaking, more than they ever had, “but I think I’m ready to go home.” Alfred’s eyes misted over, clearly overjoyed by that. He started signing, and his signs were a little awkward, but still better than what Jason had expected. 

“If you truly are ready to come home, Master Jason, then I would be overjoyed. The family, and I, have missed you terribly.” He pulled Jason back into a hug, and when they separated again, he began to walk to the register. When he had finished paying (Ella had stayed behind, obviously feeling too awkward to introduce herself), he and Jason started discussing how Jason wanted to reunite with his family. Jason wanted to wait until nighttime, and he wanted Alfred to gather them all in a room together without telling them about him - he wanted to truly surprise them. 

Even though it was time for Alfred to head back to Wayne Manor, he stayed with Jason for another hour, desperate to simply spend time with him, having gone almost five years missing him every day. The two of them were walking around the city, more engrossed in their conversation than where they were going. When Alfred decided he had to return (to keep Bruce from worrying too much), Jason looked around and realized that he didn’t know where he was. He pulled out his phone to text Ella, but she was even less familiar with Gotham than he was. 

It took him thirty minutes of wandering to find his way back to the motel, and Ella was already there with a prepared lunch. They sat down and ate - lunch at 2 pm - and then went back out (Ella having purchased a map of Gotham) to get Jason caught up on the city. Things had evidently changed a _lot_ in the years he’d been gone, which explained his difficulty navigating. 

They had nearly gotten the layout of part of Gotham down by the time Jason and Alfred had agreed on rolled around - Jason headed towards the manor while Ella stayed at the motel, slightly misty-eyed but hell-bent on denying it. He walked to where Alfred had said he would pick him up, and there he was. Alfred smiled when he saw him, and Jason would be lying if he said he didn’t return the smile. It was difficult for Alfred to sign while driving, and Jason also couldn’t see his face very well to read his lips, but Alfred was able to tell him that the family was gathered in the second-floor study, all of them were slightly confused about Alfred’s behavior, and Bruce was unhappy with how little he was told. Jason chuckled.

Jason’s palms were clammy by the time they got to the manor. He swallowed nervously, and Alfred patted his shoulder reassuringly. They exited the car and walked into the manor, Alfred going ahead. Jason waited outside of the study while Alfred told them something, and then he came back out into the hallway. He put an arm around Jason’s shoulders and gently led him into the study. When Jason stepped into the room, he saw Bruce, Dick, Tim, and Cass sitting on a couch and looking up at the door expectantly. At first, they looked at Jason in confusion, but then they began to change as they realized who he was; Dick first, then Bruce, Tim, and finally Cass. 

Shock overtook their faces, and Dick pushed himself into a standing position, sky-blue eyes widening to take over half of his face, blood rushing from his face and leaving him pale. Dick’s mouth moved, either too quiet for Jason to hear or actually silent. Reading his lips, Jason found that he was saying, over and over again in disbelief, _‘Jay? Jay? Little Wing, is that you?’_ Dick rushed to him, taking Jason’s face in his hands. He stared into his younger brother’s eyes, tears gathering in his own as he trembled. Dick’s chin wobbled and he asked,

“ _Jason_?” and when Jason smiled and half-waved at him, Dick let out a sob and pulled Jason into a crushing hug. That was all it took; Bruce shot out of his chair, running to Dick and Jason and wrapping his arms around them. Alfred joined soon after, but Tim and Cass didn’t, feeling too awkward to join in. Tears fell from Bruce’s eyes as he held his formerly-dead son close to him, taking deep, shuddering breaths. 

_Was this real? Please, God, let it be, please let this be real._

Bruce closed his eyes, expecting Jason to have disappeared from his hold, but he re-opened to see that Jason was still there. Oh, how many dreams had he had like this? Only, during the dreams, he would open his eyes to see Jason’s broken, burnt, _mangled_ body in his arms, but now Jason was here and he was okay, he was alive and well, not limp and dead. He sighed in relief, ducking his head and softly running his hand over Jason’s head. Jason mumbled a little, turning slightly and nuzzling his face into Bruce’s chest, and his heart _hurt_ , overwhelmed by his sudden presence after four and a half years of aching loneliness and desperation. Bruce mumbled a question to Jason, but when there was no answer from him, Bruce’s _heart_ stopped; was it really a dream? Was this fake? Would he have to hold Jason’s dead form once more? 

However, before he could spiral too far, Alfred reached out and tapped Jason’s shoulder. Jason looked up, and Alfred re-signed Bruce’s question, and it made sense; close proximity to explosions tended to affect hearing, so Jason must have gone deaf at some point. Jason signed back his response, and went back to fully leaning on his father and perhaps even dozing off. Everything was almost perfect, but something was missing; Bruce turned and beckoned Tim and Cass into the hug.

 _There,_ Bruce thought, as his family was gathered around him, complete for the first time in years, _now, all is well_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's over! Yeah ik when Bruce thinks his entire family, he doesn't know about Damian. 
> 
> ALSO, I kind of want to do more fics in this AU, but I don't know what to do,,, I was thinking different stories about Ella and Jason, like maybe Arkham Knight, or if Ella came to Gotham before Catherine Todd died, or just continuation of this story, or maybe even different kids that she takes in.
> 
> If you want to see this continued or have any ideas, leave a comment!


End file.
